The Craft Guild of Chefs has named the 40 chefs who will go on to compete in the semi-finals of the National Chef of the Year 2014.
After a high number of applicants in the paper judging round, where the brief was to submit a creative lunch menu for four guests within two hours, candidates have been whittled down and grouped into four heats.
The menus in the paper judging stage had to reflect Asian, Oriental, Modern British, Modern European and Rest of the World cuisines and consist of a vegetable focused starter, main course using locally sourced fresh white fish, with appropriate accompaniments and a dessert using summer fruits, served hot or cold.
David Mulcahy, the competition’s organiser and vice president of Craft Guild, said: “The standard of entries of this year’s competition is excellent and we’re really looking forward to see how the menus transfer from paper to the plate.”
More than 40 industry judges will form an esteemed panel to help select the finalists and winner including the likes of Gary Jones, executive head chef at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons and Clare Smyth MBE, chef patron at three-Michelin starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.
The heats will take place at Sheffield College on Tuesday June 10 and at Le Cordon Bleu in London on Wednesday June 25. Only eight chefs will progress into the final which takes place at The Restaurant Show in October.
The Craft Guild of Chefs National Chef of the Year 2014 semi-finalists and their competition dates are:
SHEFFIELD - HEAT ONE - 10 JUNE
Zoltan Szabo, Head Chef, Grand Central Hotel
Andrew Wright, Sous Chef, Restaurant 23
Max Tempest Endicott, Sous Chef, The Star Inn
Thomas Pickard, Sous Chef, Swinton Park Hotel
Dylan Wyn Owens, Sous Chef, Belle Epoque
Robert Potter, Head Chef, Lucknam Park Hotel
Ian Boyd-Thorpe, Sous Chef, The Peat Inn
Andrew Gotting, Executive Group Head Chef, Galloping Gourmet
Glenn Evans, Food Development Manager, Greene King Slawomir
Mikolajczyk, Head Chef, Winteringham Fields
Dion Jones, Head Chef, Crewe Hall Hotels
LONDON - HEAT TWO - 25 June - Le Cordon Bleu, London
Kyle Jenkins, Sous Chef, La Trompette
Paul O'Neill, Senior Sous Chef, Ashdown Park Hotel
Andrew Lagor, Business Development Chef, Unilever Food Solutions
Byron James Hayter , Head Chef, L'Horizon Beach & Hotel Spa
Francisco Carrasco, Sous Chef, Aqua Shard
Diane Kay, Development Chef, Reynolds
Rohan Wadke, Junior Sous Chef, Grand Central Hotel
Saurav Nath, Sous Chef, Gymkhana
Liam McKenna, Junior Sous Chef, Sandringham Yacht Club
Sankar Chandrasekaran, Sous Chef,The Cinnamon Club
LONDON - HEAT THREE - 25 June - Le Cordon Bleu, London
Adam Handling, Head Chef, St Ermins Hotel
Russell Bateman, Head Chef, Colette's
Greg Newman, Junior Sous Chef , Bovey Castle
David Bush, Senior Chef De Partie, House of Commons
Andrew Birch, Sous Chef, Montagu Arms Hotel
John (Jake) Burton Stewart, Senior Chef de Partie, BaxterStorey
Steven Wylie, Executive Chef, Sodexo
Tony Stuart, Hospitality Head Chef, Lexington Catering (Standard Bank)
Scott Dineen, Senior Sous Chef, BaxterStorey
Simon McKenzie, Executive Chef, R.W. Randall
LONDON - HEAT FOUR - 25 June - Le Cordon Bleu, London
Daniel Morgan, Sous Chef , The Square
Iain Dixon, Sous Chef, The Nut Tree Inn
Fabian Palese, Sous Chef, The Park Lane Hotel London
Al Eggleston, Executive Chef, Vacherin
Simon Webb, Head Chef, CH&co
Neil Yule, Head Chef, Sodexo
Lahiru Jayasekara, Head Chef, The Manor at Weston on the Green
Maarten Geschwindt, Chef Patron, Landmark Hotel
Nick Edgar, Head Chef, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons
Elisha Carter, Head Chef, Café Royal Hotel
